In an effort to slash heart disease, the Dietary Guidelines for Americans [1] have since 1977 been urging people to:

1.Reduce total fat consumption to 30% of total caloric intake.

2.Reduce saturated fat consumption to 10% of total energy intake.

Government issued dietary guidelines are highly authoritative and regarded by a majority as being backed by solid research. However, as it turns out, this is not the case…

Dietary recommendations regarding intake of total and saturated fat are highly controversial, and the debate is heating up. A recent systematic review and meta-analysis of six studies that were available 1977, when the first version of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans was published, shows: [2]

On January 7th 2016, the new 2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans were released. One would expect this to be a state-of-the art document with practical hands-on advice that will help people make better food choices and eat healthier. Not so! If you think the new 2015 Dietary Guidelines will tell you everything you need to know about what to eat and what not to eat, you will be greatly disappointed.

I would like to applaud the commentary by Dr. Katz “2015 Dietary Guidelines: A Plate Full of Politics”. Dr. Katz is the director of Yale University’s Prevention Research Center, and president of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine. His summary of the 2015 Dietary Guidelines is “a national embarrassment”.

In this article I will point our some issues that Dr. Katz raised, as well as add my own reflections based on avaliable scientific evidence. To make up for the glaring void of food recommendations, I will end with a practical list of foods you want to eat more of and those to avoid...